Ken Borland

There is no doubt the Bulls players and management crave the sort of pedigree and success in European rugby that Leinster enjoy, and coach Jake White is hoping upsetting the Irish giants in their United Rugby Championship semi-final in Dublin on Friday is the first step on that path.

Leinster have won the European Champions Cup four times, second only to Toulouse (5), and the Pro14 competition (the URC’s predecessor) eight times including the last four tournaments in a row. They also topped the final URC log by six points.

But while it’s obvious how much White respects Leinster, it’s also one of the great joys of sport that hot favourites are sometimes upset by the underdogs in knockout matches. It’s those games the fans live for, and the former World Cup winning coach is hoping Friday night is one of those days for the Bulls.

“Leinster are an incredible team, to put it in perspective, Sean Cronin, their reserve hooker, has played 206 games for them and Jonny Sexton has played 183. Together they have probably played more matches than our entire squad and they are both on the bench.

“We all want to become like Leinster in terms of our structures and we have massive respect for them. Who else has players like Cronin, Sexton, Cian Healy and Ciaran Frawley on the bench?

“Leinster used 60 players in this season’s URC, which is 16 more than us. Those learnings mean you will be so much better next year and after that. For us it’s about building a team over the next couple of years so we can be one of the strongest clubs in world rugby.

“But people follow sport because there’s always a chance, the players believe they can do it and I want them to give it a real crack. We’ve got confidence that on our day we can win,” White said.

For the upset to happen though, it’s going to be crucial for the Bulls to absorb the early blows Leinster, at their formidable RDS Arena, are going to rain down on them.

“We have to start well, Leinster score most of their points in the first 25 minutes,” White said. “It’s very difficult to play catch-up against them, especially at their home ground.

“La Rochelle stayed in the game well in the Champions Cup final a fortnight ago, but the last time we were here, we looked again and we were 15 points down.

“But it will be different this time because we won’t be overawed, we are more controlled now and we have more settled combinations.”

Having bished-and-bashed their way into the last four, there is no pressure on the Bulls, and whatever they get out of Friday night’s game will be a bonus.

“I think we have surpassed everything we were meant to do already,” White said after naming an unchanged starting XV on Thursday. “Now we see if we can live with the best standard of European clubs.”

Bulls: Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements -Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp; Embrose Papier, Morne Steyn, Kurt-Lee Arendse.

Connacht may be the lowest-ranked of the Irish sides, in 10^th place in the United Rugby Championship, but Sharks captain Thomas du Toit is wary of them ahead of their match on Saturday at Kings Park because he views them as a threatening package that combines strong forwards with an attack that can do the unexpected.

The Sharks currently have 51 log points, the same as Munster and Ulster, one point behind the second-placed Stormers and 10 adrift of Leinster.

Connacht’s own playoff aspirations may be gone as they are 12 points off the pace with only two matches to play, but they showed last weekend in beating the Lions at altitude at Ellis Park that they have great determination, they never stop being competitive and they displayed composure under pressure. Being only the second northern hemisphere team to win in Johannesburg is a decent honour to have on their URC CV.

“The other Irish teams – Munster, Ulster and Leinster – all employ similar tactics to each other in attack and defence and they are more structured than Connacht,” Du Toit said on Tuesday.

“But Connacht are one of the most physical sides in the competition, and yet they also play with more freedom. But at the same time they are very well prepared and trained.

“We’re trying to stay in our structure a bit more and the top eight is not out aim, ensuring a home quarterfinal is our aim. That’s a massive focus for us and every game now is like a final.

“You cannot underestimate the value of being at home in the playoffs, and now that we’ve sussed out the competition, we are doing what South African teams do best,” Du Toit said.

On a personal level, the Springbok prop is unfazed about taking over the captaincy with Lukhanyo Am in Japan and Siya Kolisi left to concentrate on his own game.

“My title just changed – I used to just be tighthead prop but now it’s with a little ‘c’ next to it. I talk a lot more now in our meetings, but it hasn’t changed a lot on the field.

“A team like this has so many talented, young but experienced leaders. We enjoy playing a lot of rugby and trying different things,” Du Toit said.

David Miller crushing the Irish bowlers like ants at the end of the innings was one of the last pieces of the Proteas puzzle to fall into place in the second T20 International and they will be looking to build on that and complete a 3-0 whitewash in the third and final game in Belfast on Saturday evening.

Miller smashed 75 not out off 44 balls, including hitting four sixes in the final over, to lift South Africa to 159/7, a total which proved well beyond Ireland on a tricky pitch. Ironically, it was the failure of the top-order, the Proteas slumping to 58/5, that provided Miller with the opportunity for a lengthy stint at the crease, in which he posted his first half-century since his 85 not out against Pakistan in Lahore in February.

A better display by the top-order, with the Proteas still pondering their best combination there, will be one of the boxes they will want to tick on Saturday night.

But for Miller, there was just satisfaction that a run of minor contributions had come to an end.

“I have not really felt out of form, but in T20 cricket over the last six games, the situations have been tough. Which is why I try and stay away from worrying about form, I just try to make an impact. I want to be hard on myself and do well every game, but doing that in my role at No. 6 is very difficult. Today I had a lot of time to bat and I’m very chuffed to have put the team in a winning situation.

“I have been a bit low in runs, but I’ve been coming in low down the order and haven’t had a proper opportunity to score big runs. So I’ve just been trying to have an impact, rather than thinking about trying to have an average of 50, it’s the strike-rate I look at. So I just trust my instincts, I try and stay in the right mindset, that never changes,” Miller said.

The 32-year-old Miller also paid tribute to another top-class bowling display by the spinners and a vital contribution with the bat by Wiaan Mulder, with whom he shared a sixth-wicket stand of 58 off 43 balls. Wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi took three for 14 and orthodox left-armer Bjorn Fortuin claimed a career-best three for 16.

“The spinners have been phenomenal, we are really blessed with Shamo, Bjorn and George Linde. You can’t necessarily play all of them but it’s a good problem to have since the T20 World Cup is obviously the goal and we are building nicely. But we are still going game-by-game.

“Wiaan also played exceptionally well, that was probably the matchwinning partnership. His intent was great, he took the pressure off me and looked to take the bowlers down. I would like to bat higher but at the same time there is a bigger goal and the other guys are finding their groove in the batting line-up. There’s a particular role required of me, but I love opportunities like this one,” Miller said.

The first priority for the Springboks when they meet Ireland in Dublin on Saturday will be to defuse the Irish kicking game.

Ireland have very strong halfbacks with a very good aerial game, especially the pinpoint accuracy of Conor Murray’s box-kicks, which he is able to launch from behind the maul.

Which is why Allister Coetzee will choose such a big pack, with Pieter-Steph du Toit in the back row it means they have an extra jumper at the tail and three big lineout forwards. It is vital that the Springbok forwards get on top and make sure that the Ireland halfbacks get back-foot ball. Ross Cronje can then get after flyhalf Jonathan Sexton and the locks can look after Murray on his box-kicks.

It was interesting to see in New Zealand during the Lions tour how there was a clear plan to unsettle Murray by attacking him on the blindside and rushing on to his non-kicking foot. I don’t think the Springboks will do the same thing – the legality of the tactic is a bit dubious, but it shows that he can be unsettled.

In terms of receiving those Irish kicks, Allister Coetzee has gone for continuity all year and Dillyn Leyds and Courtnall Skosan are both good under the high ball. It’s similar to how the All Blacks go behind Aaron Smith’s kicks, but it’s not just about the way you catch those balls, it’s also about getting escorts back and making it difficult for the opposition to get a clear jump, and getting numbers around the first ruck.

It’s also an advantage having Andries Coetzee at fullback because Sexton is a bit different to every other international kicker in that he is prepared to launch lots of torpedo kicks. They are quite hard to take because they move quicker through the air and gain more distance.

The torpedo is a more high-risk kick, it requires a higher skill level and it depends on having time on the ball. The punt is safer and more accurate, which is why most kicking coaches favour it. But Sexton’s kicking coach is Dave Alred, who worked with the Springboks in 2014 for two weeks, and he is a big advocate of the torpedo kick.

But because Coetzee is left-footed and both Irish halfbacks are right-footed, they will be kicking into his strength and he can also do the torpedo kick.

Otherwise the Springboks should just continue in the same vein as they ended the Rugby Championship: a good set-piece, a strong maul, good defence, getting their ball-carriers over the gain-line and dominating the collisions.

The other key for South Africa is to defuse Ireland’s ball-carriers on the gain-line. It will be interesting to see CJ Stander starting in his adopted country against the Springboks and whether they are able to put him on the back foot because Ireland get a lot of momentum and base a lot of attacking play off his carries. I’m sure he will be very motivated to right the wrong of the Cape Town Test last year when he got a red card. Francois Louw and Siya Kolisi against Stander is going to be a revealing battle.

In 2012, Heyneke Meyer picked a lot of apprentice Springboks in his first Test squad and Stander and Kolisi were both in that wider group. They are both world-class performers and it will be a great contest.

Allister Coetzee will maybe start Handre Pollard at flyhalf, but there is a little problem in that position because neither he nor Elton Jantjies have played a live, competitive game since the All Blacks match a month ago in Cape Town, which is a small disadvantage.

Even though Pollard has been training a lot, he hasn’t started a game for a long time. But if they feel he is the right guy going forward, and you do get different things from him, then they should choose him sooner rather than later.

Pollard is a lot faster to the gain-line, he’s a threat with ball-in-hand and has a great show-and-go. He has the ability to beat defenders off front-foot ball, whereas Jantjies is more of a distributor.

I’m also looking forward to seeing Damian de Allende get a start at inside centre. He has been picked in front of Francois Venter, who has been playing more at outside centre, all year, he has size and good feet and is a fantastic distributor. De Allende had a stellar year in 2015 but has not quite hit the same levels since then, so hopefully he will now get a good run of Tests. The Springboks generally favour having a ball-carrying, gain-line dominator at 12.

Otherwise Allister Coetzee will probably reward the guys who played quite well against New Zealand in the last Test, you have to show faith as a coach; Heyneke Meyer always said loyalty to performance was important.

It will be interesting to see how Malcolm Marx does starting a Test overseas after his world-class performance at Newlands, can he maintain that consistency?

That applies to Steven Kitshoff too and with Wilco Louw coming through, the props can rotate. The stronger scrummagers should start and establish dominance, and then the more mobile props can come on and ram home the advantage.

Matt Proudfoot has done a great job establishing six good front row forwards and in the World Cup year, Vincent Koch will come into the mix as well. Plus there’s Frans Malherbe and Trevor Nyakane, so there should be plenty of props going into 2019. It will be a nice selection headache to have.

Ireland have a strong front row, though, with Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong and Jack McGrath, so the scrum battle will obviously be worth watching.

The Springboks need a good start in this European tour, winning the first two games is important.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.